


Meta: Historical research on the Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade

by staranise



Series: The Old Guard Historical Research Notes [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, Historical Research, Islamic Perspectives of the Crusades, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:35:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25744453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staranise/pseuds/staranise
Summary: Posting my research notes on Islamic history and politics leading up the First Crusade, to answer the question, "Why the hell was Joe there?"Reader, I am left with as many questions as I have answers, and if you want to email me PDFs with greater historical detail PLEASE DO.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: The Old Guard Historical Research Notes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868767
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84
Collections: The Old Guard Resources





	Meta: Historical research on the Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade

**Author's Note:**

> These notes are written in an informal and occasionally irreverent way. I'm writing them to try to give historical context to a gay ship. I don't mean to be irreverent about the deaths I'm describing or the cultural trauma that happened, just to try to give a sense of how the events connect and relate to each other.
> 
> My PDF wishlist is in the endnotes. If you have more information or a better perspective, PLEASE SHARE. [Here is this meta on Tumblr](https://with-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com/post/625681939621412864/initial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on).

**Initial sketch notes of my historical research on Islamic experiences of the Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, posted August 6, 2020.** This is the long version of “Why might Yusuf al-Kaysani, who is from the Maghreb, have been fighting at Jerusalem in 1099?”

 **Trigger Warning:** Graphic violence, slavery, and genocide

Notes taken from reading [Paul M. Cobb’s ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goodreads.com%2Fbook%2Fshow%2F18782666-the-race-for-paradise&t=OTkwYmIzNzE4OTU3YTdlZWM5YjgxMDRkNjQ0NmUyY2NlNWU4M2IyYyxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494)_[The Race for Paradise: An Isamic History of the Crusades](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goodreads.com%2Fbook%2Fshow%2F18782666-the-race-for-paradise&t=OTkwYmIzNzE4OTU3YTdlZWM5YjgxMDRkNjQ0NmUyY2NlNWU4M2IyYyxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494) _and supplemented by Dr. Google. I’m reading Cobb’s book partly because it’s on audiobook (though it _is_ a fricking Audible Exclusive) and partly because it’s written for Western non-Muslim audiences, which helps get me up to speed.

  * [The Old Guard Through History](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DkhCUVWqW9BU&t=N2U2MTFiYzYwN2JhY2Y0ZThiOWViNDQ3N2IzMmIyNzIyYWI2NzMyZSxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494) video says Joe and Nicky met during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099, so I’ve focused most of my research on that.
  * Historians generally agree that in the 11th century the Islamic* world did not have a “Muslims vs Christians” worldview like the one Christians were beginning to develop. Their experience led them to expect Christians to be allies as often as enemies. Around the 1060s Christians began a new paradigm of religious war against Muslims, which Muslims didn’t really realize at the time–they responded to times when Christians would choose religious affiliation over clear strategic gain as shocking and bizarre, a departure from the status quo


  * (*Islamic: Society predominantly defined by Muslim rule and culture, but containing people of many different religions)
  * The Islamic response to the First Crusade was decentralized and diverse. There were a lot of different groups in the Levant*, many of whom had deep divisions, rivalries, and feuds. They mostly saw the Crusaders as a new factor that might affect their existing rivalries with other Islamic states, and were used to being able to broker deals or treaties with Christian groups to turn local warfare to their advantage.
  * (*Levant: A term used to describe countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially those with traditional religious significance to the Abrahamic religions - modern-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and parts of Egypt and Turkey. Comes from the French word for “rising”, in the sense of “where the sun rises”)
  * Additional term I’m going to be using a lot: “Frank”. It’s the Islamic term for, basically, “Western European” (of both the pagan and Roman Catholic varieties). It’s easier than saying “the Roman Catholics” or “The Crusaders” (which is putting a later cultural construct on people who didn’t call themselves that)
  * The biggest division of Islamic society in this area is, roughly, the Seljuq Turks and the Fatimid Caliphate. 
  * In the year 1000, the Fatimids were riding high: They ruled Egypt and North Africa stretching across to the Atlantic, much of the Levant, the island of Sicily, and bits of the Arabian Peninsula around the Red Sea. 
  * Then in the mid-11th century the Seljuqs came BLASTING OUTTA NOWHERE like holy shit calm your jets and conquered a lot of Fatimid and Byzantine territory (we’re talking the yellow parts of the map, they’ll destroy the Byzantines entirely later)



  * In addition to losing land to the Seljuqs, the Fatimids also lost Sicily to the Normans (who don’t even GO THERE but anyway), and North Africa through?? Independence movements?? Sheer carelessness??? I’m not quite certain.
  * The Seljuqs were Sunni, the Fatimids were Shi’ite, I… am not gonna try to explain that whole thing. [Here’s a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMbAu2Oh7PA).
  * (Small note for Yusuf character reasons: A big motivation behind the move of Ifriqiya [modern Tunisia and parts of Algieria and Libya] out of Fatimid control was that most of their populations were also Sunni)
  * So the Franks left Constantinople and travelled through what is now Turkey but was at the time the Byzantine Empire, and then moved into Seljuq lands. Most of the fighting in the First Crusade was against Seljuqs–mostly against tribes who fought for themselves, I think? Although in Damascus (which was a huge city the Franks just breezed by in favour of historically significant ghost towns) there was a general jihad preached like “Hey somebody should do something about all these Europeans”, so some of the people fighting were like… random people from Damascus.
  * While the Seljuqs were distracted, the Fatimids thought they could win some land back from THOSE UPSTARTS, so they snuck in and grabbed Jerusalem. [As Peter Konieczny reports, there are scholars who think the Fatimids thought, partly because they had a lot of experience ruling Egypt’s Coptic Christian population, ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.medievalists.net%2F2018%2F04%2Fwere-christians-and-muslims-allies-in-the-first-crusade%2F&t=MzQwYThkYjhjZmU2MjhkOWQ3YTg3ZmI0NDlhYjQ2MmU3ODE1Mjg2MCxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494)that they could reach a mutually satisfactory alliance with the Franks, especially since it seemed like most of the Franks didn’t intend to settle in the area, but return to Europe once they ensured pilgrim access to Jerusalem, which had mostly been hindered by banditry in Seljuq-controlled areas. 
  * When I read stuff just generally about the Fatimid army, it’s described as being composed of two groups:
    * Berber tribesmen (Kutama and Sanhaja) (I’m struggling to find more info about them)
    * Mamluks, who are… a cross between slaves and mercenaries? Basically, they were captives from non-Muslim territory (in the Fatimids’ case, mostly Circassia in central Asia) who were brought to Muslim lands and trained as soldiers, but once active as soldiers, were paid and hired by different groups, able to achieve freedom, often gained important government posts, and occasionally toppled the government they served and ruled the roost.
  * This next bit is based on fairly standard histories of the Siege of Jerusalem that rely a lot on Western sources, like [this article by Michael D. Hull](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historynet.com%2Ffirst-crusade-siege-of-jerusalem.htm&t=OTg1MGJkNjBhMjVhZDQ1NWI3NmJlMmM0YjFhYjNiZTgxNzBiNWEwZSxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494) and this article by [Michael Cartwright](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancient.eu%2Farticle%2F1254%2Fthe-capture-of-jerusalem-1099-ce%2F&t=Mzc0ZDhlNjc5MDQ0MmE3Y2E0MmRlNWZiNTI0NzBiNTIzMTM1YjExZSxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494). Which… have to be taken with a grain of salt, because medieval military histories don’t tend to line up super well with archaeology or plain logistics. Generally, it isn’t wise to take medieval European sources at their word when they say “the army had 10,000 people” or “they killed every last person”. They’re often written after the fact and with clear biases, and, when it comes to the Crusades, with an imperfect understanding of the culture they’re describing. I’d like to have better sources, but this is where I’m starting from, especially since I have limited access to academic sources during the summer.
  * So, the standard history says that Jerusalem was taken in 1098 by Emir al-Afdal Shahinshah, but by 1099, governor Iftikhar al-Daula was in command of the defenses. and that he had a “garrison of Arab cavalry and Sudanese archers.” Cartwright reports it as “perhaps several thousand infantry and an elite cavalry corps of 400 Egyptians.” I currently have no way of knowing which of these troops were Mamluks and which weren’t.
  * According to Hull, when the Fatimids in Jerusalem realized they would have to face a siege, they expelled all Christians of any denomination from the city, as well as all Jews “except for those of a sect for whom it was mandatory to reside in the Holy City”. Cartwright reports it as “…all Christians were kicked out if the city. In contrast, the Jewish population were allowed to stay”. Cartwright reports that Jerusalem’s population, 70,000 at the beginning of the year, was lowered to 30,000 by the expulsions (though some people were also coming _into_ the city to take refuge from the oncoming Frankish army). Additional preparations included poisoning wells outside of Jerusalem to deny the Frankish army water, and emptying the land around the city of livestock and people. 
  * The Fatimids were also expecting the arrival of an army marching north from Egypt to help them out relatively soon, which explains why their strategy was mostly “hunker down and wait” with very limited attacks outside the city.
  * The Franks came southward down the coast to Jaffa, where they took the nearest port to Jerusalem, and then approached the city.
  * June 7, 1099: The Frankish army shows up at Jerusalem with about 15,000 people total and less than 1,500 armed knights. They split into two camps, one attacking from the south, one from the north. They were in rough shape and didn’t have any siege weapons, so the Fatimid defenders were able to sit up on the walls, taunt them, and shoot arrows. They enlivened the tedium by sending cavalry units outside the walls to harass Franks who were scavenging for food and water.
  * June 13, 1099: Some Franks on the north side of the city managed to scrabble together siege ladders and try to climb up and assault the walls; they were repelled pretty easily by the defenders.
  * June 17, 1099: English and Genoese ships land at Jaffa, carrying siege equipment and fresh supplies. Hull reports that the Fatimids dispatched troops, 400 Arabs and 200 Turks, to attack the supply chain between Jaffa and Jerusalem; Hull reports that the Franks only lost 5 of the force of maybe 150-200 knights, and “all of the archers” (about 50?)
  * It takes about three weeks to transport the supplies to Jerusalem and for the siege towers to be built; the Genoese played an especially large role in building the siege equipment, and their chief engineer is named as William Embriaco.
  * On July 10 the siege engines were finished and wheeled to the walls. That night everyone inside the city and out sat over campfires, showing each other pictures of their families and trying to humanize themselves for the audience to make their impending deaths more impactful
  * (I kid)
  * (mostly)
  * June 13-15: Almost continuous fighting between the Franks, who are trying to move their siege engines close enough to make it onto the walls of Jerusalem, and the Fatimid defenders, who were trying to fight them off and burn their towers down. 
  * June 15: The Franks breach the walls and begin pouring inside, killing and looting its inhabitants. There is well-documented destruction of Muslim and Jewish holy places, where Muslims and Jews fled for refuge and were killed. This part is. Sickening. Tens of thousands of people dead; the streets running with blood. 
  * The Fatimid governor and various others (possibly the remainders of the army? Possibly important citizens? Some Jews appear to be in this group?) took refuge in the Tower of David, and were able to negotiate to leave Jerusalem safely. The Fatimid soldiers who left the city that way joined the advancing Fatimid army at Ascalon, southwest of Jerusalem.
  * It’s unclear who the survivors were–the sources mention people left aside being made into slaves, being allowed to leave the city, or being ransomed by rich relatives outside the city. The fact that we have Jewish and Muslim accounts of what happened during this time means there _were_ survivors
  * But let’s face it: The survivors were the minority. The majority of people, thousands of them, were slaughtered by the Franks as they took over the city.
  * Epilogue: The Fatimids tried to take Jerusalem back a month later, and failed. Jerusalem was in Crusader hands.
  * It’s taken me three days to write this up and I’m ending it feeling really blah and drained by the enormity of this shit. I… 
  * _The Race for Paradise_ has this bit that talks about two Western ways of talking about the Crusades: 
    * The Traditional paradigm, where this was a great moment for Christianity, whew we kicked those guys’ BUTTS!
    * The Lachrymose (Latin for “full of tears”) paradigm, coming to popularity since the Enlightenment, where this was horrific mass slaughter caused by religious zealotry and it was bad and everything was bad 
  * But the thing is, we can’t actually _stop there._ Or, that is: It’s not actually useful for our only narratives about the Crusades to be either “Christians kill everyone and it’s awesome” or “Christians kill everyone and it’s terrible”. It’s not true; it feeds into the overall false narrative of “European Christians only interacted with [Muslims/Middle Easterners/People of Colour] very rarely, and only when there was an atrocity happening.” It means we fail to acknowledge all the cross-cultural contacts that happened _without_ an atrocity, and fail to realize that a lot of these atrocities came out of the context of incredibly warlike countries whose economies depended on warfare and conquest.
  * Another element is… during the 11th century, when all of this happened, the Normans also invaded England. [Their conquest was absolutely brutal](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historyextra.com%2Fperiod%2Fnorman%2Foccupation-resistance-subjugation-the-bloody-aftermath-of-1066%2F&t=OWExYzIxNzViYTE5MzEzYTU2MTJmYjkzZDU1ZDA1ODI5ZmFmOGI4NSxVRmNVbExSYw%3D%3D&b=t%3AUxp273bJT_jdqH3sCzvptA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwith-my-murder-flute.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625681939621412864%2Finitial-sketch-notes-of-my-historical-research-on&m=1&ts=1596697494). England was ethnically and linguistically divided for centuries between a French-speaking colonial upper class, and the English-speaking peasantry. But over the centuries, these two groups came to live together peacefully and build a distinctly new society. Most peoples’ narratives of medieval England are not “a land of massacre, genocide, and ethnic strife”, even though those things definitely happened. We just have much _stronger_ associations with medieval English art, literature, culture, fashion, and architecture than its slaughters.
  * So basically: The challenge for us in the 21st century is to develop a richer understanding of the past. We know a hell of a lot about battles and armies; we know way less about merchants and farmers, and about the long decades _between_ battles and armies. Military history tells us about waging war, but if we can look past that, we can find out about waging _peace._
  * Now I’m going to go collapse into my bed, and in a day or five I’ll write up a TL;DR version about what I think the likeliest backstories for Joe are (Briefly: probably a Fatimid cavalry soldier or an ordinary person who thought it was safe to be in Jerusalem at the time, and had to defend himself and his servants etc when the city fell)



**Author's Note:**

> I would appreciate receiving any information or resources anyone else has, especially:
> 
> -Muslim, Jewish, or Eastern Christian narratives of the Siege of Jerusalem and surrounding events  
> -Information on Eastern Christian monasteries and religious orders in 11th century Jerusalem  
> -Islamic military history, especially about the composition of the Fatimid army in the 11th century  
> -Tunisian history about the cultural and religious makeup of 11th century Ifriqya  
> -Information about Islamic trade and culture in the 11th and 12th century Mediterranean
> 
> Please feel free to email me at staranise [at] cherisaan [dot] net or drop a comment!


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